


To Tell The Truth (Would Be A Lie)

by NothingxRemains



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asexual Character, Asexual Loki (Marvel), Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Bisexual Character, Bisexual Tony Stark, Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, F/M, Genderfluid Character, Genderfluid Loki (Marvel), Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Loki (Marvel) Feels, M/M, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Protective Loki (Marvel), Sexuality Crisis, Shapeshifter Loki (Marvel), Shapeshifting, Swearing, Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Compliant, Tony Stark Feels, Very very briefly - Freeform, because Loki makes everyone have a damn midlife crisis
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-06
Updated: 2018-11-06
Packaged: 2019-08-19 15:51:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16537595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NothingxRemains/pseuds/NothingxRemains
Summary: “Oh yeah, I'm sure the scandinavians will be thrilled, I mean who wouldn't want a bunch of gods living in their backyard?”





	To Tell The Truth (Would Be A Lie)

**Author's Note:**

> So I may have made promises last week about certain things. Except I had this problem, okay, where I had so many ideas I couldn't decide what to write first and ended up writing nothing. So. There were two other things I meant to get to before this, and this was only supposed to have one chapter but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ what can you do. The writing style is pretty unstructured too, it was very much a "go with the flow" kind of deal, so read at will.
> 
> This is basically half pretext and half shameless shapeshifting!Loki. I personally find the idea deeply satisfying. 
> 
> EDIT: I've decided I'm gonna take this story and run with it bc I've suddenly have a ton of ideas for how they're relationship progresses. Chapter two is half done, it'll be up in a day or so.

It had started with an alien ship landing somewhere in the general area of scandinavia, carrying once-prince-now-King Thor, and what remained of Asgard. Not to mention a woman who looked scarier than the 8-foot rock alien she stood next to(who carried what looked like prey but was actually his not-dead bug-like also-alien friend), and Bruce.

And Loki.

(Who Bruce vouched for.

Sort of.

Yeah, that was a fun conversation.)

It was a strange state of affairs. Bruce and Thor, and Loki(who’d transported them) ended up back in Tony’s penthouse of the Avengers tower, waiting awkwardly while three iron legion suits held Loki at gunpoint for Tony to surface from the lab.

Considering how deep he could get into the mechanics of his inventions, it took a while. A good while in which they stood around for approximately two minutes before Loki said “You know, I think I’ll have that drink after all,” and, with his hands raised so FRIDAY wouldn’t shoot him for moving, wandered over to the bar.

That was how Tony found them when he finally came up in the elevator twenty minutes later, in lazy clothes and covered in sweat and grease, a gauntlet on one hand and an incredulous look on his face--Loki standing by the window, _the_ window, with the iron man suits still trained on him, sipping from his second glass of cognac entirely unconcerned, Bruce and Thor sitting on the couch while FRIDAY explained to them that the avengers had disbanded after Bruce had asked about them.

Thus led a very long, slightly hostile argument wherein somebody explained what the hell Rock of Ages was doing in his tower, and then Tony, in turn, explained that SHIELD had crashed and burned in a spectacular HYDRA fashion and that the rest of the avengers had were basically wanted fugitives. Thor and Bruce sat in consternated silence. After a beat, Loki said, “Well then,” and drained the rest of his glass.

Tony scrubbed his non-gauntlet hand over his hair and beelined for the bar, pouring himself a glass and refilling Loki's with a sigh after the god had followed him.

“Okay, that still doesn't explain what all of you, collectively, are doing _here_ , specifically, in my penthouse.”

Thus followed another lengthy explanation of Odin's death and Hela's reign of terror, of finding Hulk on Saakaar and hitching a ride with them, and Asgard burning to the ground, with what remained of it's people on a ship awaiting permission to set up camp. Thor had originally thought to seek out SHIELD to request asylum for his people, and now sat at a loss of what to do in the wake of their absence.

Tony sighed again.

“You'll have to consult the World Security Council about that one, buddy, or at least the Scandinavian government. How many made it out?”

“Just short of three hundred, most women and children. Will you aid us, friend Stark? I seem to recall you are not without significant resources,” he said, in a vague gesture meant to indicate the whole of the tower itself.

“It's not so simple, Thor,” Loki interjected, of course going against Tony's internal wish that he'd just shut up and act like he wasn't there at all. “In another realm we would have to appeal to its ruler and their royal advisors. There is no such system here, this world is still disorganized with no single ruler for us to entreaty. Are chances of being welcomed here are slim.”

“And you couldn't mention this _before_ we set a course for midgard, Loki?” Thor said, almost in exasperation.

“I assumed that if Bruce--” They were on first name basis? What the actual fuck, Tony thought as he took another drink, “did not raise an objection, being of midgard, then I believed it would not be as difficult as I suspected. But perhaps our friend simply decided he's had enough of space,” he finished casually, eyeing Bruce as he took as another sip. The doctor in question rubbed his hands together nervously, glancing to the side to find Thor staring at him accusingly.

“What? Look, I'm not a politics guy, alright? I figured you'd have a fifty-fifty chance of being accepted or forced off-planet.”

“Oh yeah, I'm sure the scandinavians will be thrilled, I mean who wouldn't want a bunch of gods living in their backyard?” Tony interrupted, setting his glass down with a sharp _clink._ “Look, I'll arrange a meeting with the WSC and see what I can do, alright?”

 

\---

 

A few months later, the Aesir had pretty much settled in their new home, with plenty of help from SI (grudgingly allowed by WSC). It had been a painstakingly long process in which Thor showed just how bad at politics he was. Loki stepped in, and once the Council got over the fact that he'd tried to take over earth(where he explained he'd been coerced, Tony nearly started an argument with him because that was absolute _bullshit,_ only prevented by both Pepper and Thor's wrangling both of them), he pretty much lived up to the legends of Silvertongue and secured safe sailing for the future of New Asgard.

 

\--

 

Remembering all of that, Tony still didn't understand how he'd ended up where he was now. He was in his workshop, where he'd been for the last six hours as per the norm, tinkering with the nanotechnology in Mark IIXL, with a distinct lack of bantering(as there was a lack of JARVIS, which still bothered him in the two years that had passed). There was only one difference.

A four foot long python looped loosely around his neck, tail curling around the front a second time to drape down under the back of his shirt, small tongue flicking out at his pulse point to let him know where Loki's head was, and a partial form of communication.

He'd freaked the fuck out the first couple times he'd seen it--honestly, who wouldn't choke on their drink when they were relaxing in their home only to see that motherfucker slithering around casual-as-you-please in the small sunlit patch on his couch. It took him 2.5 seconds to deduce that either Loki had _left_ it there, or it _was_ Loki. Either way, it was Loki's fault.

It didn't end there. Sometimes it was a jaguar rolling around in his bed, or a giant hairy tarantula moseying about the junk on his workshop tables. Occasionally strange furry creatures he’d never seen in his life(and FRIDAY couldn't identify them either, so he assumed they were from other realms). On one memorable occasion, it had been a medium-sized dragon trailing him on his patrol over Manhattan.

Once the shock factor were off, the animals became more… tame. A calico darting across the workshop, being chased by the bots. A gray cockatiel on his shoulder, accompanying him to meetings.

It had a strange effect of keeping him in the moment, aware of the slight weight draped over his neck or perched on one shoulder, or the not so slight weight of a behemoth wolf blanketing his thighs until they fell asleep. More likely to break his long binges in the lab with bouts of eating in between, only taking him an hour or two to realize it was late rather than suddenly wondering when the sun had come up.

Sometimes, when Loki wasn't there pressing into his skin, he would pass out face-first in whatever he'd been working on, and wake up in his bed, still fully dressed with grease stains on his fingers, a cat or a snake or a wolf curled into his side. Eventually he stopped wondering why Loki was there at all, and only wondered where he went when he wasn't with Tony.

For the first four months(after the initial two as an Avenger-in-training), Loki was more often than not in animal form when around Tony. It was only after he brought it up that he'd walk into a room and find Loki there with a book, or on a tablet, or prepping something in the kitchen, or helping himself to Tony's bar. Occasionally at first, and then more and more as the weeks dragged on and Tony realized that in some way Loki had been reluctant to greet him in his natural form. Whether it was because of everything Tony associated with Loki-of-Asgard or some other reason, he was almost surprised by it. The guy was even sassier when they could actually communicate than he was in animal form, and much more obnoxious, and equally as smart. The animals disappeared for a short while, and Tony was hesitant to let this Loki into his private space, his workshop, but came to the conclusion of _that’s stupid_ after a couple days and had FRIDAY invite him down. He couldn't help but notice that Loki looked quietly pleased for about a week after that, and the animals came back again.

 

\----

 

This time was… different.

Tony had come back from a mission, unsuiting on the balcony, only to find a familiar looking woman curled up in the sunny spot on the couch, reading a book. He opened his mouth and promptly bit down on his tongue. He wasn't good with people, he was fucking awful when he wasn't faking it but goddammit he could recognize a show of trust when he saw one. So he skipped the alcohol(he'd been bitten more than once when Loki realized too much was bad for mortals) and sprawled on the other end of the couch with a pained grown.

“So what is it today? Ancient blood rituals? Sorcery versus magic? Poisonous subtypes of Vanaheim mushrooms?”

Loki rolled (his? Her? Their?? He wasn't sure how Loki felt about it, exactly. If he was still Aesir when he was a ball python, if he was still male when he was female. He was gonna go with what his eyes told him unless Loki corrected him) eyes, and he didn't realize her shoulders had been tense until they'd abruptly relaxed, licking her finger and turning a glossy page. “Basics of engineering,” she said primly, the corner of her mouth quirking up. She reached out a hand to his leg occupying the cushions between them and slipped her fingers under his pantleg, soft fingers curving around the bare skin of his ankle underneath. Her eyes glowed for a moment and a soothing warmth washed over him, healing his bruised ribs and lacerated cheek. Tony melted into the couch with a groan.

“Thank god.”

The feminine chuckle that answered him was purely, undeniably, one hundred percent _Loki_.

**Author's Note:**

> I hate FRIDAY, did I mention that? I had to go back and edit JARVIS out and it was awful. I miss JARVIS. Vision is.. okay. I like Vision himself, I don't like what Marvel did with him. And that other thing we Do Not Speak Of. Ugh.


End file.
